The use of inflatable stowage pads for securing a load in a transport container is known. In such a process, stowage pads are inserted between individual articles in the load and are inflated. Due to the increase in the volume of the stowage pads, the articles in the load are braced in the transport container and therefore cannot slide or fall over during transport.
Stowage pads which are used in a freight car for such purposes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,648. For this purpose, the cited patent teaches installation of a pressure line fixedly installed in the car to which the pressure pads are fixedly connected. On the one hand, the stowage pads can be supplied with compressed air for inflation via the pressure line installation and on the other hand they can be evacuated via an aspiration device which can be connected to the installation. This installation is elaborately constructed and is particularly suited for large transport containers only, for example railroad cars, where the installation of such an elaborate device is profitable.
Variable stowage pads for this purpose are disclosed, for example in the pamphlet "Spanset C 9201210". They are made of extremely sturdy and greatly expandable laminated paper with a polyethylene coating. The problem with such stowage pads does not reside in their application and insertion into the stowage position followed by inflation, in which they make secure transporting possible, but in their removal after the load securing process has been completed. This is conventionally accomplished by simply letting the air out through the filler valve or by destroying by cutting open the stowage pad (non-return solution). In both cases a pressure equalization between the interior and the surroundings of the stowage pad takes place, however, without the stowage pad essentially changing the shape that it had in the inflated state. It merely collapses slightly. The solid construction of the stowage pad prevents a reduction in volume and thus simple removal.
Elaborate installations, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,648, are too expensive for small trucks and cannot be operated there.